State of the game: FFA's task to fix Australian football

"This is the single most important thing the game has in front of it over the next few weeks and months and years," FFA chief David Gallop says

He is referring to the New Leagues Working Group – a committee that will oversee the A-League's transition towards independence away from FFA. After years of lobbying from A-League club owners, tens of millions in collective losses, FFA's new board has made it a priority to give the clubs more, if not complete, autonomy of the league's governance and finances.

"We agree with the fundamental principles that the A-League should move to an independent or separated model," FFA chairman Chris Nikou says.

Advertisement

The aim is to encourage more investment into the league by club owners, sponsors and broadcasters. The analogy used is that the clubs go from being tenants in a property to owning it. By controlling a stake in the league rather than being granted licences from FFA for 20-year periods, the belief is that club licences will soar in value. Owners will have a greater inclination to spend on marquees, invest in infrastructure and can retain the bulk of their own revenue while FFA will govern national teams, player pathways and grass roots football.

The clubs have put forward a proposal that will see complete independence and ownership of the league while allowing FFA to retain a 'golden vote', enabling the organisation to block or approve any significant change. It's understood several stakeholders who will vote on its approval will give it the green light but it's yet to be agreed upon unanimously. Stumbling blocks remain over the share of television revenue, the clubs are understood to be requesting around 90 per-cent of the $57.6 million dollar annual broadcast deal while FFA wants to retain just shy of 20 per-cent. There remain disagreements over which party should pay for the redundancies of staff that will occur as a result of the split.

"Clearly, there are going to be competing interests," Nikou says. "The deadline to complete the project is extremely tight so all parties need to spend a time looking for a solution that balances the revenue and resources across the professional game, the national teams’ program and the grassroots."

Broadcast rights

It's no secret that the A-League TV ratings have plummeted. The game is in the second year of a six-year partnership with Fox Sports - a deal that has proven good value given the drop in audience - but FFA is renegotiating the free-to-air component of the deal. Saturday night fixtures are shown on One but provide little promotion of the A-League in part due to their deal with Fox Sports. That partnership expires at the end of this season and will almost certainly see Saturday night games shown elsewhere.

"We're talking at the moment to the networks and it's important that we get a good arrangement in place," Gallop says.

"We want to encourage investment into the A-League to make the A-league better, to make sure it rates better, to get us better media rights in a few years time."

Despite the transition away from the FFA's governance, it's understood the Fox Sports deal will be kept in tact for the new body running the A-League.

Second division

While the new operating model seeks to fix the issues relating to the professional tier, there is a great need to clear the pathways from the grassroots to elite football. A country that has more than one million football participants currentlyhas only nine professional clubs.

To alleviate the bottleneck, FFA has come to the table over establishing a national second division. The initiative was lead by the Association of Australian Football Clubs, made of up National Premier League sides, as well as the PFA. A format is yet to be reached on establishing a national second tier which could serve as the eventual platform for promotion relegation in the distant future, though significant cost hurdles remain unanswered as well as professional standards.

Bridging the gap: Sean Symons of NPL club APIA Leichhardt takes on Adelaide in the FFA Cup. A second division could bring the clubs closer together.Credit:AAP

The issue was perhaps summed-up best last month by PFA chief John Didulica, who told The Age that without elite performance environments and salaries offered in a second division "we are just getting NPL on planes".

It still remains a long way off but meetings began last week that could provide the foundation for a national second tier.

"Working group members discussed the principles that should underpin a second division, including financial sustainability, commercial opportunity, professional football standards and promotion and relegation. That said, a lot of good work has already been done by AAFC, PFA and FFA which will allow us to more quite quickly," Nikou says.

"The next step is to compile a white paper which outlines the blueprint for a national second division competition in Australia."

2023 Womens World Cup bid

For FFA, it may be easier to convince the rest of the world it should host the 2023 Women's World Cup than it will be to convince its own confederation. Australia is one of the confirmed nations bidding for the hosting rights for the tournament and is set to be challenged by Japan, a potential joint North and South Korea bid (yes, you read that right) as well as a possible bid from Thailand. On top of those, New Zealand will also bid for hosting rights.

"The reality for us is we need to position ourselves as the main bid coming out of Asia," Nikou said.

Of all those bids, Australia is the only nation without representation within the FIFA executive committee, which will vote on the next host. Colombia is regarded as the early frontrunner to win the hosting rights. FFA's strongest asset will be national and state government support along with Australia's strong record at hosting major events.

Big plans: Australia launched its bid for the 2023 Women's World Cup two years ago.Credit:Mark Nolan

"Hosting the FIFA Women's World Cup would provide even more opportunities for women and children to play the world game. This bid is a strategic play towards increasing female participation at all levels, and supports our ambition to make football the number one sport in the nation," Nikou says.

Grassroots facilities

Football is undoubtedly the biggest game at participation level but among the least funded by the government per-capita. Poor facilities, unsafe pitches, limited or no change rooms and the soaring costs of registration are well-known to any parent or player. State member federations and FFA have identified a $500 million facilities funding gap and are lobbying all levels of government to improve playing conditions for juniors and amateurs.

"It found football is being held back by inadequate facilities and in many areas across Australia, the sport has outgrown the facilities available to participants," Nikou says. "We are now actively seeking partnerships between federal, state and local governments to provide more and better places to play. The focus will be on female-friendly facilities to accommodate an additional 138,000 women and girls playing football by 2023."